Scott returns to stun Sunderland

Sunderland's manager, Mick Mulhern, is confident the Black Cats can drag themselves out of trouble despite their fifth successive Premier League defeat, 4-0 at home to Everton, that pushes them further into the relegation zone.

More kittens than cats, Mulhern's side has only one player above the age of 20 after he undertook a huge rebuilding programme after the summer loss of six key players, including the England midfielder Jill Scott who hit a hat-trick for Everton.

The manager's recruitment drive was, however, a relatively simple task. As director of the Sunderland Girls' Centre of Excellence, in addition to his first-team role, Mulhern was able to dip into an already proven pool of talent.

"In the last six years," he noted, "we've produced 12 girls who've played for England at age-group levels and two of them are now in the senior squad. But having to bring so many youngsters into our team this season has meant we've suffered from a lack of experience.

"We've not been playing badly, though, and the results lately have certainly been worse than the performances. We've targeted the teams we can take points off, and although anything you can get from the likes of Everton is a bonus I believe we'll be good enough to get the results we need to avoid relegation."

Mulhern also hopes the women's set-up will be taken back under the wing of Sunderland FC, who cast them adrift and into near-poverty two years ago but may now be more amenable after this season's takeover by a consortium led by the new chairman, Niall Quinn.

"The new regime have got a lot of issues apart from us," said Mulhern, "but we have had talks and I'm hoping that at some stage the club will come back in to support us. We're living a week-to-week existence and there's no way we can compete financially with the top clubs."

There were no other league games played yesterday but in a delayed Premier League Cup quarter-final Arsenal overwhelmed Nottingham Forest 9-0 and now face Chelsea. Next month's other semi-final will see the holders, Charlton, take on Leeds.